User blog:The Skilled Pointman/My Opinions on Dual Wielding in H/M
The following text is from a reply I posted for Frizzle on suggested topics. I did my fair share of coding, and can tell you that dual wielding weapons is a piece of cake to code, and that although it seems difficult, you will find it is rather easy. I could help you with that, if you want. The issue with dual wielding is that it adds a whole new aspect of the game! This mod already has some seriously complex controls, what with spells and other modifications to movement and attacking. Now dual wielding pretty much changes all of that! Dual wielding in vanilla is easy to code, but to make the commands compatible with all that you've already developed, that's just programming hell. Another thing to consider is the potential balance issues for this game. Veterans, like me, have learned to utilize spells as well as our blades (or bows or wands, or blocks, or hands, etc), but adding another weapon would completely change our strategy. This could cause a potential unilateral unbalance in the way H/M is played, as newer players will be offered a far simpler approach: Learning the game will include learning dual wielding. The veterans, on the other hand, must retrain themselves, as dual-wielding will likely change existing controls, and believe me, pressing the wrong button and clicking the wrong thing can prove catastrophic. One other thing to consider is balancing issues. Giving players two weapnos essential gives them twice the firepower, which means that mobs will have to harder if this game is to remain a challenge. Once mobs are harder though, which is another migrane of programming, then the entire concept of dual wielding is rendered moot, as it give the player no advantage, and serves only to make the controls more complicated. Lastly, one must consider the specific issues that emerge from the addition of dual wielding. A mage will probably want to hold two staves (one staff, many staves knives) or wands, whichever they are, which could serve only to provide siezure-inducing particle effects and a helluva lot more complicated programming (Go easy on yourself), it gets even harder when the want to hold a wand and a sword, as the wand will shoot and whack, as does the sword block and whack. It becomes a pain for the modder (you) and the player (me others).Don't even get me started on bows and their charge times... In conclusion, I think that you should skip over or perhaps postpone the concept of dual-wielding weapons, as I believe you shouldn't have to go through any more pain coding this amazing mod, and that we, the veteran players of this mod shouldn't endure the trouble of such a massive change. I believe that if you insist on undertaking a massive project, you should add more dungeons and perhaps more weapons (Daggers and Greatswords? Staves and Longbows?). Maybe even a whole new class or set of dungeons if you're feeling ambitious. But, I think you owe it to yourself and (perhaps not owe) to the players to not work on such a complex project. If you even see this, I just hope you know how I feel on the matter, and whether or not you consider perhaps even adopt these ideas are completely your choice. This is just my opinion on the matter. Oh, and guys, I would also like to let you know that my documentation of the weapons in this mod pack will likely begin in a week or two, and I will be posting videos and screenshots to support what I write. I will also have my next blog post soon, asking you guys some questions I don't know the answers to about this mod, that I couldn't find answers to on the wiki, that perhaps can only be answered by the great Frizzle himself. But maybe you, random person out there, maybe you know! Alright guys, that's all for today, though. So I will A...B...Cya! Category:Blog posts